Ketchup
by Kawaii Kabu
Summary: "Step away from the ketchup. Sasuke, I repeat,step away from the ketchup." Childhood fic.


Ketchup

Kawaii Kabu

Do Not Own.

A/N: I had a hankering to write a drabble fiction with a young Sasuke. No couples. Just crazy childhood. So we all know how much Sasuke loves Tomatoes, well imagine that he finally discovered the delicious concentrated tomato sauce that is Ketchup. Do Enjoy.

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"Step away from the ketchup. Sasuke, I repeat,step away from the ketchup."

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It was no secret that Sasuke Uchiha loved tomatoes. In fact, it was one of Konoha's most well known facts. Why was it so well known? Well every girl under the age of 12 and all the mothers who wanted adorable grandchildren_ had_ to know this information. Sasuke, age 6 was the cutest child that the Uchiha clan had ever produced. The cutest child that the entire village had ever produced - if you didn't count the little Hyuuga Heiress with the large, milky doe-like eyes, but the 'unbecoming' stutter and blush.

"Sasuke, I've packed your lunch. Come downstairs! You'll be late for the academy!" A dark haired woman who's hair shone colbalt blue in the sunlight called from the kitchen. Over her lavender blouse and navy blue skirt she wore a pink apron. On the kitchen counter in front of her a well prepared obento lunch box was prepared.  
"Kaa-chan!" the 6 year old yelled from the stairs, "I can't find my shuriken!" He was sliding around the wooden upper floor in his house-socks searching all the rooms for his wooden practise shuriken. His mother shook her head knowingly, the shuriken were in the bag next to her son's shoes. She heard his tiny footfalls down the stairs and he bounded into the kitchen. Of course, over the countertop you could only see the top of his head like a shark fin as he travelled through the kitchen. The small boy tugged at his navy blue shirt and white shorts nervously. "Kaa-chan... I can't find my shuriken." He said with his eyes dark eyes glittering with tears, thinking that his mother would scold him for loosing them.  
"They're in your bag by your shoes." His mother sweetly replied, she put the lid on her lovingly prepared obento and covered it with a large green wrap with white printed clouds. She handed the obento to her re-energized son and kissed him on the forehead. "Now hurry up or you'll be late." Chubby arms wrapped around her waist, Sasuke grinned up at her as he hugged her and then ran off to the front door.

Sasuke always loved Lunch time at the acadamy. It was right between jutsu training and free time. In free time, Sasuke would go to watch the older students practise throwing shuriken. One brown haired girl was especailly good at it, she had her hair in buns and she was the only girl Sasuke admired... outside of his clan. She was the reason Sasuke wanted to bring his shuriken to school- he was going to show her that he was just as good as everyone else in her year.

The blonde boy sitting three seats in front of him was being loud and silly. Sasuke didn't like the way the blonde kept pulling pranks on the teachers and the villagers. Although... he had to admit some of the pranks could be funny - but he'd never laugh at them - and showed all the calculativeness needed to be a successful ninja.  
"Ne~, ne~ Sasuke-kun. Do you want to have lunch with us?" A blonde haired girl suggested with a giggle.  
"No! Girls are smelly!" Sasuke protested. The girl only giggled at the comment and her blue eyes shone.  
"Oh Sasuke-kun, you're so funny!" she latched onto his arm and buried her head into his shoulder. Sasuke pushed her away and didn't turn back dispite the fact her heard her crying as she hit the floor. It wasn't that hard. That would teach them all, he would only allow his mother to be the only woman to hug him in any way, shape or form.

He huffed to get his breath back as he reached the practise poles. He would have lunch there and wait to observe the older students practise. Sasuke sat with his legs crossed and his obento waiting in front of him. A grin on his face as he imagined what his mother had packed him. Little hands grabbed at the knot that held his lunch closed and pulled it apart. His fingers pryed the lid off of the box and he sighed, absorbing the smell of his mother's cooking. The largest compartment of his obento consisted of 3 shaped onigiri. A Shuriken, A Konoha headband and an Uchiha fan. A smaller compartment had 8 cut hot dogs cut up and shaped like octopuses and the smallest compartment contained 12 cherry tomatoes.

It took him fifteen minutes to demolish the onigiri. His mother had filled them with spicy minced beef and his little mouth overflowed with the sensation of hot food in his mouth. Sasuke allowed himself time to play with the hot dog octopuses, despite the fact that he wasn't supposed to play with his food. Using his chopsticks he picked up the second to last one.  
"Oh no! Sasuke's going to eat me!" He shrieked in a high voice that supposedly belonged to the food. "RAH!" he roared as he dropped it in his mouth. As he chewed someone giggled behind him. Sasuke turned around to find the brown haired girl. His cheeks flushed with embarrassment, he had been caught.  
"Nee-chan? You're early." In her hands she had a steaming sweet bean bun and a small plastic tube. She sat down beside him. Her tanned cropped trousers blending in with the dirt on the ground. "Is that a hot dog octopus?" She asked pointing at the lone octopus. "You know they taste better with this right?" she opened the plastic tube and squeezed a bit of a red liquid onto the hot dog octopus' head. Sasuke stared at it. "Go on. Try it." She egged him on. Cautiously Sasuke picked up the last octopus and ate it. Flavours danced on his tounge and his tastebuds sang. His onyx eyes lit up like diamonds in the light.  
"That tastes like tomatoes!" He proclaimed in wonder. The girl stared at him like he was stupid.  
"Duh..."  
"What's it called?"  
"It's called ketchup." The girl said in return, taking a bite out of her bun.  
"Nee-chan, it's really good!"  
"I know." She smiled at him and ate the rest of her lunch in silence. Sasuke finished his cherry tomatoes thinking about this wonderfully sticky red substance that tasted like tomatoes. Ketchup. Ket-chup. Ketch-up. Why was it called Ketchup? Did it make you catch up? 'Ketch' sounds like 'catch'.

The older girl got up to get a drink of water because apparently the sweet bean bun was also extremely spicy and her tongue felt as though it was on fire. While she had left, Sasuke peered over at her vacated space. The tube of ketchup was resting on a napkin. Sasuke grabbed it, placed the opening in his mouth and squeezed all of the filling out of the tube. He became hyper within seconds and ran back to class, discarding the now empty, curled tube of ketchup.

The ketchup high lasted all of the day. The girls in his class were glad that Sasuke had ended up so happy, seeing him smile for the entire afternoon. It was like a miricle had occured.

He even raced back home on a ketchup high. His mother was in the garden, grooming the tomatoes she grew (especailly for him). He ran up to her and hugged her waist from behind. His baby soft hands gripped the cashmere softness of her blouse.  
"Kaa-chan! KAA-CHAN!"  
"What is it Sasuke?"  
"I _like_ Ketchup."  
"Oh?"  
"It's like... it's best."  
"Would you like something with Ketchup in your lunch tomorrow?" His mother asked him.  
"Please!" he beamed before racing out to tell Itachi that he had discovered the best tasting food in the entire world.

Mikoto then put something ketchup-y in Sasuke's lunch every day.

As if the tomatoes weren't bad enough...

He was now addicted to ketchup.

Three weeks later, Sasuke actually ate lunch with the rest of his class. They were on a class trip to the Hokage monument. The blonde prankster named Naruto was planning a 'master prank'. He boasted that even though it would take him a while to save up money to buy enough paint, he was going to 'decorate' the monument as a leavers prank. You wouldn't get more serious than that, defecating one of Konoha's most sacred spots.

Sasuke was ignoring him and eagerly awaiting the moment they would be allowed to open their packed lunches. When Iruka-sensei finally allowed them to rest above the the Sandiame's head. Sasuke opened his lunch and almost died when he saw that he had been given the wrong lunch. There was nothing tomato-y in his lunch at all. It was all full of sweet things. This was Itachi's lunch!

He hated it.

Just then... he noticed the faint aroma of tomato floating across to him from a group of girls.

Salvation! Discarding his lunch Sasuke headed over to them, following his nose he noticed that they had all had hot dogs and between them had a giant bottle of Ketchup. His eyes lit up.  
"Sasuke-kun! Do you want some of my hot dog?" a pink haired girl asked him, offering a sausage in a bun towards him. Sasuke would have said no, but it was smothered in ketchup. The tomato-y goodness that he yearned for was right in front of him.  
"Ok." The girl squealed, boasting to her friends at how she was Sasuke's 'favourite'. While she was doing so, Sasuke used his finger to swipe all of the red sticky substance off of the sausage and removed it with his tongue. While the girls were arguing amongst themselves, Sasuke stole their bottle of ketchup and left.

He ran to the corner and opened the white cap. Tomatoes filled his nostrils. His mouth watered with anticipation. Without waiting another moment, he titled back his head and squeezed the giant bottle, forcing the substance into his open mouth.

Pleasure took control of his tiny body as the ketchup entered his system.

This was good stuff.

Really good stuff.

Unfortunately, the girls had discovered that their ketchup was missing.

"A-ano... y-you guys... We can't h-have h-hotdogs w-without k-k-ketchup." The only girl that Sasuke knew by name (due to her family ties), Hinata had piped up. He glared at her as the girls all realised it had vanished.  
"Who likes ketchup enough to steal it?" The blonde girl asked her troop.  
"Sasuke!" All but Hinata yelled in reply.  
"Are we going to let him steal our ketchup?" She asked them again.  
"YES!" they all yelled, apart from Hinata who stuttered against this motion.  
"Then it's unanimous! Sasuke-kun can have our ketchup!" The girls all cheered. Hinata's face sullened.  
"B-but... I w-w-wanted k-ketchup on my h-hotdog. T-The mustard is r-really b-b-bitter."  
"Suck it up Hinata-chan! If we let Sasuke have the ketchup he might be nice to us." The pink haired girl told her. Hinata left the little group and plodded over to Iruka-sensei.

"S-sensei?" she whispered tugging on his chuunin vest. "U-Uchiha-san stole t-the ketchup f-from us."  
"Sasuke-kun wouldn't steal..." Iruka said uncertainly... were tomatoes really that important? That Sasuke would steal from the very adorable girls of the class? "I'll call him over just to make sure." Hinata nodded politely and waited at his side.

"Sasuke-kun! Please come over here." Iruka-sensei called after the boy. Sasuke paused in his ketchup drinking, hid the bottle behind his back and headed towards his teacher.  
"Hai, Iruka-sensei?"  
"Is it true that you took the girls' ketchup?"  
"Iie." He lied through his teeth. Even casting the teacher a rare smile. Iruka-sensei shook his head.  
"I can see the ketchup staining your teeth."  
"No you can't!" Sasuke protested.  
"U-Uh huh!" Hinata complained at Iruka-sensei's side. "Y-you stole it w-when Ino an-and Sakura w-were arguing!"  
"Shut up Hinata-chan." Sasuke ordered her. When she shrunk into Iruka-sensei's side Sasuke stuck his tongue out triamphuntly. The Chuunin sighed and shook his head. He honestly thought Naruto was going to be the one to cause problems today, not Sasuke.  
"Sasuke-kun, hand over the ketchup." he ordered with a waiting outstretched palm.  
"But it's mine Iruka-sensei!"  
"N-no i-it's not! M-my Kaa-chan b-bought it because s-she knew we w-were having h-hotdogs!" Hinata protested again, with tears forming in her strange eyes. So with a tearful girl and a dissapointed sensei facing him, Sasuke did the only thing he could.

He ran away, ketchup in hand.

Iruka-sensei sighed. While Hinata sobbed, he placed his left hand on her head to comfort her. He placed two fingers to his right ear where an audio device was situated.  
"Call the Uchiha police force. We have a class runaway; Sasuke Uchiha. 3 foot 11, black hair, black eyes. Long sleeved navy shirt, white shorts."

Sasuke knew running away was stupid. But they were trying to take away his ketchup. It was his! How dare they even _attempt_ to take away his life source. And now he was being pursued. He could feel someone approaching him, they were definately strong. As he was about to turn left, back to the road that led to the Uchiha compound from the Hokage monument. He ran into something that felt similar to a brick wall.  
"Itai~." Sasuke complained rubbing his hurt forhead.  
"Sasuke. Stealing ketchup? Really?" He heard his older brother tease.  
"Kaa-chan gave me your lunch."  
"Well, I ate yours, you should have done the same. Give the little Hyuuga girl her ketchup."  
"But it's mine." Itachi tapped his brother's hand and the ketchup bottle flew 10 metres away. Sasuke began to chase after the bottle.  
"Step away from the ketchup. Sasuke, I repeat, step away from the ketchup." Itachi ordered.  
"But it's mine!" Itachi was holding the ketchup bottle in a flash, Sasuke attempted to grab it back but to no avail. Itachi was simply too tall. The older Uchiha poked his brother in the forehead, causing him to stumble backwards.  
"Come. You have to finish the rest of your class trip."

"I'm sorry for the disturbance Sasuke-kun caused Iruka-sensei." Itachi apologized. The Chuunin teacher simply shook his head dismissively.  
"Don't worry about it Itachi-sama. I should apologize for not treating the situation differently."  
"It was Sasuke-kun's fault entirely." Itachi's attention turned towards the shy Hyuuga heiress. He handed her the bottle of ketchup, "Here you are Hinata-chan."  
"T-thank y-you I-I-Itachi-sama." She stuttered with a polite bow. Sasuke, who was sulking at his brother's side glared at her for takng away 'his' ketchup. She poked her tongue out at him, if he hadn't seen Itachi's amused smirk he would have thought he'd imagined it.

At home Sasuke was still sulking. Itachi had informed their mother of the ketchup incident and Mikoto had vowed never to give Sasuke ketchup again. She even called Konoha Academy to tell them to keep all ketchup away from Sasuke.

He would never get his ketchup back.

He felt like crying.

Infact, he was crying... over ketchup.

A sauce.

"Sasuke-chan... I have a vine of tomatoes that have just ripened." His mother attempted to coax him from his room with the thing closest to ketchup in his heart.  
"I... don't... want... to... ma... toes... I... want... ketchup!" he cried inbetween sobs. His mother invaded his room and sat next to him on the bed. He turned away from her and she patted the dark hair that resembled a birds tail flat on the back of his head.  
"You can't have ketchup. Ketchup makes you crazy."  
"B-bu-but Kaa-chan-"  
"No. Buts." she stated coldly. "Maybe if you're a good boy in class I'll give you ketchup as a reward."

And /that/ is the reason Sasuke Uchiha aimed to be the number one student in his class. Not because he wanted to surpass Itachi and continue to impress his father. But so that he would be rewarded by that deliciously tangy ketchup sauce, straight from the bottle if his mother hadn't hidden it well.

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Love it? Hate it? Indifference? All I ask for is constructive crit. Though I'm not going to lie, I go all fluttery when I get +Fav Story/Author and +Follow Author/Story and +Review e-mails.


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